Thursday, July 29, 2004

Homeward Bound

Going Home this weekend. By Home I mean to visit my parent’s home. It’s funny how you can have more than one Home. I guess that Home is really defined by who is there waiting for us.

Mom and Dad’s home is a good 7 hour drive. As you can well imagine my visits are few and far between. Before I met Eric I would get home more often but he’s on call more often than not so we rarely get away now. This is a long weekend though and he booked off specially so that we could make the trip. I’m really looking forward to going. Although I’m usually exhausted from the trip by the time we arrive it’s always a good relaxing few days while we’re there.

I miss being so close to family and friends. The distance may as well be 7000 kms instead of 700 kms sometimes. I have some friends that have just drifted away. It baffles me sometimes. By phone I’m no further away and it only costs 7 cents a minute to talk but for whatever reason I seem to have been cut loose from the friendship because I’ve moved. I find that disappointing and no matter how hard I try to stay in touch the gestures are rarely reciprocated. Other friends are different. Some I’m in contact with weekly or more whether it be by phone or by email. Then there are still others that I don’t talk to often but we can still pick up where we left off. It seems to be mutually agreed that we accept that we’re each busy but the friendship is important enough to make the long silences acceptable.

Anyway, I have lots to do to prepare for the weekend. I still need to pack all our things and gather them by the door so I only have to pack up the car tomorrow after work. We’ll get in late Friday night and then we’re heading out off again on Saturday to visit a family friend who can no longer travel. I’m looking forward to Saturday evening because that will be quiet together time with my family.

On Sunday evening I’m trying to round up whatever friends that I have left in the city so that they can drop by for drinks. Boy, the older we get, the harder it is to arrange visits. Half of my friends have children or extended family so it’s not as easy for them to get away. We’ll make the best of it though. Enjoy a few cocktails in the wonderful garden that my folks have created. Even if no one shows up we’ll still have fun.

I’m looking forward to Dad’s cooking. He’s turned into quite the chef over the last couple of years. I’m sure we’ll be able to squeeze in our traditional big breakfast on Sunday. At least, I hope so.